Brad Felt was a tuba and euphonium player, composer, educator and a mainstay on the Detroit Jazz scene in the 1980s and 1990s before his death in 2011. Saxophonist/ flutist Steve Wood has assembled a band featuring Terry Kimura on trombone, Duncan McMillan on organ and Dave Zwolinski on drums. The results are a fitting tribute and an opportunity to hear the music of a Detroit Jazz original.

In conjunction with Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898 – 1971, Mr. B’s 27th Annual Piano Celebration will explore the works of composers such as Jelly Roll Morton, Meade “Lux” Lewis, Jimmy Yancey, Blind John Davis, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, Errol Garner, Earl “Fatha” Hines, and many others. Featured guest pianists will include Lluis Coloma, Brendon Davis, and Elder Robert Moore.

This is an excellent opportunity to experience the original sounds and rhythms of the artists that came to define American music across the twentieth century. 

The Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings and conductor Timothy Weiss celebrate the solar eclipse weekend with a performance exploring light, dark, and creativity.

This program features Canti Dell’Eclisse by Bernard Rands, Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy, and Franz Joseph Hayden’s String Quartet in B-flat, op. 76, no. 4. 
 

Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen explores new sounds by applying elements of American jazz to the classical, church, and folk music of his youth. The result is an immediately identifiable Norwegian kind of jazz, a descendant of the original with new sources of inspiration that has established Gustavsen as one of Scandinavia’s leading artists.

The trio will preview selections from their soon-to-be-released tenth album which features Gustavsen (piano and electronics), Steinar Raknes (double bass and electronics), and Jarle Vespestad (drums).

“...the cleanest, most genuine manouche jazz being performed in Michigan,” a style originally developed by Romani guitarist Django Reinhardt (Local Spins). Led by guitarist Andrew Brown, the project has gathered a community of musicians who channel the tenacious agility that this music demands.

Djangophonique features Tyler Rindo (clarinet), Jorian Olk-Szost (double bass), Nicholas Martin (rhythm guitar) Katie Smith (vocals) whose soulful approach channels the mystery and appeal of an era.
 

Hailed as “an intrepid illuminator of the classical avant-garde” by the New York Times, Sarah Cahill has commissioned and recorded over seventy compositions for solo piano, including works by Terry Riley, Frederic Rzewski, Pauline Oliveros, Julia Wolfe, Roscoe Mitchell, and Ingram Marshall.

Cahill’s latest project is The Future is Female, a compilation of pieces by women composers from the Baroque to the present. 

(Germany/2023—directed by Jialing Zhang)  

For decades, China has been monitoring its citizens using high-tech security and surveillance. In this fascinating documentary, Jialing Zhang (co-director of One Child Nation) immerses us in the daily reality of half a billion cameras pointed at people as they go about their daily lives, invasive neighborhood watch programs, employees monitored for stress levels, and a ”social credit” point system that has rewards for community service and penalties for societal infractions.

With the assistance of dozens of anonymous locals, Zhang focuses on three courageous women fighting for civil liberties and justice. This is a bracing portrait of a society for whom privacy is all but extinct, and a warning for democracies using surveillance in unprecedented ways. 

In Mandarin with English subtitles. (97 min.) 

“Absolutely vital. Remarkably balanced and journalistically sophisticated.” —Jason Gorber, POV Magazine  
 

Friends of African and African American Art present an evening of spoken word, song, and live music, to honor the spirit of the DIA’s Regeneration exhibit. Rosemarie Wilson’s Jazzetry revue features performances by award-winning Detroit musicians and poets Will Harris on keys, Takashi Iio on bass, Randal Wilson on guitar, with poetry performed by BWard, Jason Ford, Esau Parker, and Tawana Petty. Rosemarie Wilson — aka One Single Rose — is a singer, actor, filmmaker, the author of three poetry collections, and winner of the 2023 Detroit Black Music /Spoken Word Award. 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.  

Black musicians have always been integral to country, folk, blues, and Americana music genres; in many instances, it was Black musicians who first created these forms. The American music industry has an equally long history of not supporting them, or excluding them completely.

For these reasons, Black Opry was founded by Nashville's Holly G. as a collective of like-minded musicians, writers, producers, and supporters who created a website where Black artists could be heard and celebrated. The Black Opry Revue is the touring element of this collective and highlights their diversity of sound and stories. Every Revue features a unique line-up of Black artists.

For this program Friday Night Live will include performances by Isaiah Cunningham, Christine Melody, Jett Holden, and Nathan Graham. 

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.  

Black History Month at the DIA is generously supported by Arn & Nancy Tellem.

Dr. Dom Flemons is a Chicago-based musician whose repertoire covers 100+ years of American Roots music. Flemons is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, music scholar, actor, slam poet, record collector, and the host and producer of American Songster Radio Show on WSM in Nashville. He is considered an expert on banjo, guitar, harmonica, jug, percussion, quills, fife, and rhythm bones.

Flemons will perform music from his Grammy-nominated album Traveling Wildfire, and a tribute to the music of Herb Jeffries, The Sensational Singing Cowboy from Detroit, who performed in all-Black musical westerns in the 1930s. Free with admission. 

After the concert there will be a free screening of Jeffries’ 1939 classic, Bronze Buckaroo.  

This program is part of a companion series of film and music events presented in celebration of Regeneration: Black Cinema, 1898–1971, on view at the Detroit Institute of Arts Feb. 4–June 23, 2024. Regeneration is organized by the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.